THE SHOEING OF HORSES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 3311, 18 December 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SHOEING OF HORSES.

* [Cy S. Van Buakirl: in Town ami Country i Journal j [ BAD SHOEING AND LAMENESS, i This is a far more important subject ; than the ordinary horseowner would at first suppose. I maintain that more horses are made lame to-day through bad shoeing by incompetent smiths than from any other cause, the reason being that smiths, as a rule, have not had the necessary experience to do the work as it should be done. In the first' place, the majority of horses are far too heavily shod,. Have, you ever considered the unnecessary weight that a horse lifts up and puts down in the course of a drive of only one hour 1 I make this seemingly outrageous calculation ; Horses are generally shod with shoes weighing 11b to l£lb each, and, if we take a rate of speed giving a step per second, or 3,600 steps in the hour, the animal will pick up and put down from 1J tons to tons aggregate weight of shoe per hour, fully half of which is absolutely unnecessary, and so much actual/waste of power. A horse weighing from 9001 b to 11001 b should never wear a shoe over 14oz or 15oz in front, and one weighing 7oz or Boz behind. Thia is sufficiently weighty for fast driving or saddle horses, For draught horses a heavier shoo is requisite; but the less weighty the better for the horse. The object of having the shoes heavier in front than behind is to give .more action to the front feet, so that they will get out, of the way of the hind feet, thus doing away -.with . -’ * - ' OVER BEACHING, / or clicking, ae it is commonly called. •Another grave fault with ..many, blacksmiths is the tendency to tit the foot to the shoe, instead of the shoe to the foot. The shoe is made red-hot, burnt into place, and the hoof pared round to fit the shoe. Also great lack of judgment is shown in shoeing a colt for the first time, by putting on a shoe of similar weight to that put on a horse who has been wearing them for: years. _■ A moment’s consideration will' show how foolish thia is, it being in every respect similar to a parent placing his own shoes on the feet of his three-year-old child. A smith who has learnt his trade properly will measure the colt's foot, cut the right length from a bar of iron, and work it until it fits - the foot - in a proper manner, then nail it on cold, using a number 5, not a No. 9, nail ; in clinching the nail he will never take rasp and cut underneath the nail, as is so often done, for in three or four weeks the hoof would grow over the clinch of . the nail, and when the shoe has to be removed, the clinch has to be pulled right through the hoof. I have mentioned above that shoes are put on red hot, and it can easily he understood how injurious this is, as it just burns up and draws the elastic substance from the foot; and after a short time the hoof becomes so hard it is impossible to cut it with a knife. , ' • ,■ ■; • ■'

AS AFFECTING THE FROG OF THE FOOT.

Finding very few people who understand the functions of the horse’s frog, it will not,'perhaps, be ont of place to explain them here, and to that, end I wenld say that the frog in a horse’s foot is a cushion to the horse, arid takes the same place as a spring in a waggon. If we : should take, the spring away from the vehicle and attempt, to drive over or ten miles of rough and stony roads, we ,would soon find that our nerves were bmng terribly jolted, and. that, we were losing all the pleasure that we expected from the trip.. Now, the horse was endowed, with the frog to act as a cushion to his font; 1 and it being of an elastic and yielding character, w)ien It comes in Contact with the eaith, stones, or anything hard, it yields, and gives like a spring, taking, the jar off the delicate machinery of the foot. As its convexity makes it liable ta touch the ground at every step, it is only natural to suppose that it was intended to, receivel pressure 1 ; paring the-frog, there; fore, and raising it from the ground by a hi|l.-lie'eled sh6s annihilates its functions and produces disease. Also, when a horse has travelled upon such highheelad shoes fbr a’ long time; taking the pressure,off I ,,the -frog, the frog, becomes dry .and hard as stone, and the result isthab wberi ! it strikes the ground it jars the limbs arid causes, in inflammation,.- The foot next commences to contact, grftwfng worse and worse every day, : until the' horse' becomes almost worthless. No frog}..-No foot,S v.>< Vl

IN CONNECTION WITH-; OVERr | NEAOHINQ AND BRUSHING. . 5 When we'speak of a horse overreaching we mean that owing to the propelling power of the hind feet he cannot get the fore feet out of' the way quickly enough, .Now, - this ,is , most easily remedied-by having your horse shod with toe-weighted shoes on-the front feet, having 4oz.more at- the - toe than the heel; arid on the hind-feet lst them be;wideband heavier enitho Sides than on the iusidea, and weigh in all quite ' ?bq' lighteS 1 than the front opps. The result of putting toe-weights on; the front shoes, is; to;give;increasedknee action, .whifst:the side'Weights on the i hind- ones;- causes the horse to spread them out when .he, picks them up.-* -Tlieae '< shoes, - when a properly forced apd fitted, stop over-reaching. The foot must be pared perfectly level. The'toe-weighted shoe is also very efficacious for da horao that - stumbles, which is owing to either want of sufficient knee action or from laziness.